CALIFORNIA EVIDENCE: CIVIL AND CRIMINAL
...Hearsay Except. Requiring Unavail
......Unavailability Examples
.........Infirmity
............Mental Infirmity: Lack of Memory
4 Cards On This Topic:

Lack of memory constituting unavailability

Witness unavailable if has present lack of memory.

W's inability to remember events of murder or her earlier testimony constitutes "mental infirmity" and supports finding of unavailability.

W's own testimony re memory loss sufficient to establish unavailability; neither independent psychiatric exam nor expert medical evidence is required to substantiate.